Violence in Sudan's El-Fasher 'stain' on international community: UN rights chief

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The United Nations on Friday said the horrific bloodshed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher was a "stain" on the world, which has failed to halt the violence.

The war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million more and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF seizing control of the key town of El-Fasher after an 18-month siege, with reports of atrocities multiplying.

"We warned repeatedly about the strangulating, suffocating siege, under which people were reduced to eating animal feed and peanut shells," UN rights chief Volker Turk said.

Speaking before an urgently called special session of the UN Human Rights Council about the situation in the city, he said that his office had "warned about the spread of famine, as people starved to death, and we warned that the fall of the city to the Rapid Support Forces would result in a bloodbath".

Children from El-Fasher rest outside their tent at a camp for displaced Sudanese people in the northern town of Al-Dabba on November 13, 2025.

Now "bloodstains on the ground in El-Fasher have been photographed from space" and "The stain on the record of the international community is less visible, but no less damaging".

Turk said that "the international community has a clear duty to act. There has been too much pretence and performance, and too little action".

"It must stand up against these atrocities – a display of naked cruelty used to subjugate and control an entire population."

He called for countries to help ensure that civilians from El-Fasher and surrounding areas can access humanitarian aid and protection.

He also called on states to "make a concerted effort to hold to account all those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in this conflict".

He said that his staff was "gathering evidence of violations that could be used in legal proceedings... (and) the International Criminal Court has indicated that it is following the situation closely".

"All those involved in this conflict should know: We are watching you, and justice will prevail."